The new unit, Google DeepMind, was formed by merging the Brain team from Google Research and DeepMind, a London-based AI company Google purchased in 2014.
Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai has announced that two entities within the company have merged to form a new business unit dedicated to developing the next generation of artificial intelligence (AI) breakthroughs and products.
The new unit, Google DeepMind, was formed by merging the Brain team from Google Research and DeepMind, a London-based AI company Google purchased in 2014. The newly formed business unit aims to accelerate the company’s progress in developing AI in a safe, responsible manner.
We’re proud to announce that DeepMind and the Brain team from @Google Research will become a new unit: .
Together, we’ll accelerate progress towards a world where AI can help solve the biggest challenges facing humanity. → https://t.co/2pkooMzUvD
— DeepMind (@DeepMind) April 20, 2023
Pichai’s goal in combining Google’s AI talent into one focused team is to “significantly accelerate our progress in AI.” Jeff Dean, the chief scientist for Google Research and Google DeepMind — who will directly report to Pichai — has been tasked with building a series of powerful, multimodal AI models.
“A.I. has the potential of civilizational destruction.”
— Elon Musk @elonmusk
— DogeDesigner (@cb_doge) April 15, 2023
With people like Tesla CEO Elon Musk claiming AI has the potential to destroy civilization, Pichai clarified the intent behind creating the unit:
“To ensure the bold and responsible development of general AI, we’re creating a unit that will help us build more capable systems more safely and responsibly.”
While Pichai said the unit’s resulting developments will be used to enhance Google products, specific details remain unknown at the time of writing.
Related: Elon Musk reportedly plans AI startup to rival ChatGPT-maker OpenAI
Meanwhile, a recent survey of 11,004 United States citizens revealed there are major fears of an AI takeover in the workplace.
While 62% of Americans believe AI will have a major impact on workers generally, just 28% believe its use in the workplace will have a major effect on them personally. https://t.co/ExpDNlOsWl pic.twitter.com/biMSX1AUln
— Pew Research Center (@pewresearch) April 20, 2023
56% of the respondents believed AI would have a major impact on the U.S. economy, while only 13% believed “AI will help more than hurt” American workers.